The Allahabad High Court has stayed the Uttar Pradesh government’s order granting interest waivers and other concessions to Sunworld City for its 414,000 sq. metre mixed-land-use township along the Yamuna Expressway.

The interim order, passed on December 3 by Justice Arun Kumar, came in response to a petition filed by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida), which challenged the state government’s decision issued under Section 41(3) of the UP Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973, according to a report by the Hindustan Times.

The court said the issues required consideration, and kept the operation of the government order in abeyance while also issuing notice to the Sunworld City.

“We have suffered for the last 14 years because the Yeida failed to give us the possession of the 151,000 square metres (sqms) out of 414,000 sqms land that was allotted to us in 2010 via an auction. And when the state government has given us relief, granting us the interest waivers and directed us to execute lease-deed, the Authority has challenged the order in the high court, further delaying the project and adding to our suffering. We now hope that the high court will do justice to us as we have complied with all rules and regulations,” Sanjiv Gupta, promoter of the Sunworld City, said.

Yeida had allotted land in 2010 but cancelled it in 2011 citing non-payment of the land cost dues, forcing us to take the matter to the high court.

In an interim order in June 2012, a division bench allowed execution of a lease deed upon deposit of one year’s lease rent and stamp duty, and gave the developer the option to proceed either with the entire allotment or only the portion over which Yeida had undisputed possession.

The Sunworld chose the latter and in September 2012, Yeida executed a lease deed for about 65 acres of undisputed land.

Yeida told the court that Sunworld later sought surrender of the land, which the Authority accepted through resolutions passed in its board meetings in 2019 and 2020. A challenge to those resolutions by consortium partner Vanalika Developers was dismissed by the high court.

Following a December 21, 2023 government order for stalled projects (that allowed concessions like interest waivers and others on payment of 25 per cent dues, Yeida issued a demand letter in April 2024, offering the Sunworld City an opportunity to revive the project on payment of 25% of the lease premium. Sunworld challenged the demand before the state government, leading to the July 2, 2025 order.

In that order, the government accepted the developer’s claim that the handed over land was incomplete, scattered and partly unacquired. It recorded that nearly 20 acres of the land was Gram Sabha’s property formally acquired only in December 2017, despite being shown as acquired in Yeida’s scheme brochure.

Citing these factors, the government directed Yeida to take steps for execution of leases restricted to undisputed land and declared the entire intervening period as a “zero period”, waiving penal interest, extension charges and related dues.